A Magician by Any Other Name
by Andrix
Summary: A new world, with familiar faces. But something isn't right. Will Fay be able to face the ghosts of his past to save the ones who mean the most to him now? SPOILERS FOR ACID TOKYO AND POST-ACID TOKYO ARCS. READ AT OWN RISK. AU, angst to follow.
1. Chapter 1

"There is no one here," said Syaoran, as they stood on a long stretch of beach. They had circled the island, and not seen so much as another person's footsteps.

"Puu..." mumbled Mokona, "What a sad, lonely island..."

"Sad and lonely?" came a familiar voice, "Not really!"

The four of them, the princess, the hero, the magician and the ninja, all were startled. They turned to see where the voice had originated, and came face to face with Yukito. The young man with silver hair who was the head priest in Syaoran and Sakura's home world, and whom they had seen many other times on their adventures. And right beside him, as was usually the case, was Touya. Touya smiled at them pleasantly.

"There's lots on the island!" Yukito informed them.

"But... we didn't find anyone. We've circled the island at least once." Sakura told him.

"Then you weren't looking in the right place, Sakura." Touya chimed in.

"How do you know my name?" Sakura asked him. This was not their world; these two were not her Touya and Yukito.

Or were they?

"I'm your brother, aren't I, monster?" Touya said, plopping his hand on her head.

Sakura frowned and told him to stop; they weren't kids any more. Yukito laughed. Such a light-hearted place... they would stay here. They felt at ease. It was obvious that "Syaoran" had not made it here yet. They could relax.

Touya and Yukito showed them to a small village in the center of the island. The travellers were surprised to see so many familiar faces in this place. There was not one person in the village they hadn't seen before. The same soul, different bodies. From Ashura-ou to princess Emeraude, all their friends were together in one place. Syaoran found his father, Kurogane was pestered by a Tomoyo, and Sakura was reunited with her brother and her friend, for now. However, Fay just couldn't shake that something was wrong. There had to be something that wasn't right in this place; there had to be. But try as he might, even with his immense magical power – however diminished it was by "Syaoran" taking his eye – he could not see through the illusion. If there was an illusion.

"Stop trying to pick it apart," chastised Kurogane as Fay fed from him the evening of their first day in this new world. Fay pulled away, wiping the ninja's blood from his mouth.

"Kurogane-san doesn't think that it's odd... that the Touya-san and Yukito-san here knew our princess?" Fay commented.

"It's coincidence." Kurogane huffed, wrapping a bandage around the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Remember what the witch said, Kurogane-san. There is no coincidence, there is only fate." Fay replied as he walked away.

Kurogane watched as the magician walked away, trying to shake the distant feeling he got as the blonde left. Ever since he had lost his eye, and Kurogane had given up his freedom to keep him alive, he had been detached. No more silly nicknames, no more annoying behaviour. He was stiff, and rigidly serious. Kurogane didn't want to admit it, but he missed the goof he had before. He sighed and sat down, tired from the feeding.

* * *

The next morning, they emerged from where they had roomed for the night and met in the central room of the inn. The only person who didn't show up was Mokona. They could all still understand each other, which meant that the manjuu hadn't gone very far. When a search of the rooms yielded nothing, they quietly returned to the central room. Strangely enough, none of them seemed bothered by Mokona's sudden disappearance. No one except for Fay. In fact, he seemed to be the only one who noticed. He spoke to Kurogane once they were alone.

"Kurogane-san." he said stiffly, "Surely you noticed that Mokona is nowhere to be found."

"He's probably just off eating somewhere or something." Kurogane said quietly.

"Do you honestly believe that, Kurogane-san?" Fay asked.

"Yes!" Kurogane snapped. Then he stopped. "...No."

"There is something here. Something that shouldn't be here." Fay muttered, "And whatever it is... it has made this world."

"Made the world." Kurogane said, disbelievingly. "How could it have done that?"

"Anything is possible with the right magic," Fay said with finality. And then he left.

He wandered out through the village, past the tall palms and the houses. As he wandered, he passed person after person, faces he knew from their journeys before. Masayoshi, Ashura, Yasha, Primera. He even saw Chii. They were happy, milling about and making noise. There was nothing wrong. Or so he thought. As he neared the exit of the village, he heard something that chilled him to the bone. A small, sweet voice in his ear. One he remembered from many years ago...

_"Where are you going, Yuui?"_


	2. Chapter 2

He froze, whipping around. That voice. It was a voice he hadn't heard in many years, not since he was a little boy. Not since before Ashura from Celes came and saved him from his prison. A voice that belonged to someone who should be dead. It echoed in his mind as his wide eyes stared around him. There was no one there but him. Everyone in the village was standing far enough away that there was no way their voices could have sounded like that. He was dazed, confused. What snapped him out of it was something else he hadn't expected to hear in such a calm, quiet place.

"Sakura!!"

It was Syaoran's voice. Fay turned to run towards it. Sakura was the only person he had gotten closer to in the days since Acid Tokyo. And now something was happening to her. As he neared where Syaoran stood, just across from Sakura, Touya and Yukito, he stopped short. They were fading away. Sakura didn't even seem to notice Syaoran shouting for her. As he tried to grab her, to pull her away from the two men who appeared to be taking her with them, his fingers passed right through her arm, her hand, everything he tried to grab, as though she were a ghost. Syaoran shouted after her once more as he fell to the ground... and then she was gone.

Fay hurried over to him. "Syaoran? Syaoran!"

Syaoran stood up and looked at him. "Oh, hello Fay-san."

Fay blinked. Someone who had just watched a loved one fade into nothing should not act like that. "Syaoran, where is Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-chan?" Syaoran asked. "Who is she? I don't know who you're talking about."

Fay was as shaken by his response as he had been by the voice in his ear. Who was Sakura? Sakura had been his best friend since they were children. They had grown up together. He had given up everything to follow after her memories and restore her to her former self. He had given up the love they had for each other. Such a high price... and now he didn't remember any of it.

"Fay-san?" Syaoran asked, "Are you alright? You look as though you have just seen a ghost."

A ghost. No, it was something much more frightening than that. He turned on his heel and ran back to the inn, back to where he knew Kurogane was. He barged into their room and nearly toppled the ninja over as he himself was leaving.

"What the -" Kurogane exclaimed.

"Kurogane-san!!" Fay said, and for the first time there was something other than sadness in his eyes.

"What is it?" Kurogane asked the frantic vampire. It was strange to see him like this even before the incident.

"Mokona is not the only one who has disappeared! I just watched Sakura do the same!" Fay gasped, gripping Kurogane's shoulders hard.

"Calm down," Kurogane said, "Maybe you were just seeing things."

He pried the magician's hands off him and looked him in the eyes. "People don't just disappear."

"But Syaoran saw it too," Fay said, "And after, when I asked him, he acted like he didn't even know Sakura-chan."

He could tell that this had troubled the ninja more than a little bit. There was no way that Syaoran would not know Sakura. He closed the door of the room they were in slowly, then turned to look at Fay.

"What is going on here," he asked, "Why are people disappearing?"

Fay looked back at him. There was nothing to hide from Kurogane. He knew his past; they all did. He turned to look out the window.

"I heard something earlier. Something I haven't heard since I was little. A voice... my brother's voice," He mumbled.

"What did it say?" Kurogane inquired.

"'_Where are you going, Yuui_'..." the mere thought sent shivers down his spine.

Kurogane stopped and thought. He remembered watching the magician's past play out before his eyes like a terrible movie. Twins were a sign of ill fortune in his country. When the two of them, Fay and Yuui, were just little boys, his father locked he and his twin brother in a chasm, one on the ground and the other high in a tower, and one by one killed every citizen of their country, throwing the bodies in to the chasm with them. When there was no one else, the king stood on the cliff above them and accused the children before throwing himself in. As they sat, freezing in the snow, desperately trying to reach each other, Fei Wong Reed visited them. The man who had been the source of all their problems until now.

He helped Fay – no, Yuui – escape, while the other twin fell to his death from the tower above. The Fay he knew now was adopted by a monster of a man, King Ashura from Celes, who gave him a new name, the name he carried now. Fay D. Fluorite. Fay for his brother, D for his rank as a magician, and Fluorite for the magical stone that matched the colour of his eyes.

"But your brother is dead." Kurogane said pointedly.

"Yes. He is." Fay turned to look at Kurogane again, his expression dark. "I watched him fall from the tower with my own eyes."


	3. Chapter 3

Fay did not go to bed that night. For most of it, he did not even sleep. He sat, wide awake, and stared out the window, silhouetted against the moon, which was very large and bright in this world. He could not sleep because of what he had heard, what he had seen. Over and over, he heard the voice in his ear. _Where are you going, Yuui? Where are you going... where... _

He must have dozed off. He awoke with a start, feeling like someone was watching him. He was dazed, as one usually is when suddenly awoken. It was still dark, but the moon wasn't in the sky any more. His vampire sight helped him to see. Kurogane was still asleep on his bed. Fay could see his body outlined by the covers. But that wasn't all. There was something else in the room, something he couldn't see.

_"Yuui... it's because of you."_

The voice again. His brother's voice. Sweet and childish... and terrifying.

_"All because of you. You took it from me..."_

"Shut up! Stop playing with my mind!" Fay shouted, knocking over a table.

He fell to his knees. Suddenly, the room was bright again. The clouds that had been obscuring the moon seemed to just vanish into thin air. Kurogane stirred, rolling over and looking at the magician. Fay was on his knees by the window, his hand over his good eye. The ninja stood and walked over.

"Oi. What the hell were you yelling about?"

Fay's shoulders were shaking. He didn't say anything for a minute, and then he stood up, perfectly composed. His clear blue eye met Kurogane's red ones, and he gave the faintest of smiles. It was thin and forced.

"Nothing, Kurogane-san," he replied.

* * *

Fay took it upon himself to keep Syaoran busy the following day. His heart ached from loosing Sakura, but he pushed through it in an effort to make sure that no one else would disappear. Syaoran was curious as to why Fay was spending so much time around him, even when he was in the company of Fujitaka, the man who served as his adoptive father in his home world. They were talking about a rock with the skeleton of a fish pressed into it. They called it a 'fossil'.

"I didn't think you were interested in this sort of thing, Fay-san," he commented.

Fay smiled. "I am," he said, "Learning about the history of a world through it's... fossils... is very intriguing.

Fujitaka gave him a large, friendly smile, "Then perhaps you and your friend would be interested in joining us. I was going to take Syaoran-kun to a nearby dig site."

Fay forced a smile. Rocks were so boring, but... "Certainly. I'll just go invite Kurogane-san."

It took a little convincing, but Fay managed to get Kurogane to agree to come with them. They couldn't let Syaoran disappear, not like Sakura. Maybe if they were all together, then they could stop it this time. They walked along, Syaoran walking beside Fujitaka. It was obvious that he was happy to have found his father once again, and be able to spend some time with him. Kurogane and Fay trod along behind them, desperately trying to seem interested.

"This place is full of sandstone caves. That's the best place to find fossils, in the sandstone. There are lots of sea creatures... it's like this entire place was underwater once." Fujitaka explained.

They continued to walk along. It seemed like they walked forever before they reached the cave he had talked about. Fujitaka lit a lamp and lead the way into the cave. Kurogane carried a lamp too, glowing and flickering as they wandered. Fay kept his eyes on the two people in front of him. Every few minutes, he swore he could see through Syaoran, but it turned out to be a trick of the light.

Kurogane was watching too, but he was more so watching Fay. It seemed as though Syaoran was safe as they wandered deeper and deeper into the caves. They tried to keep Syaoran and Fujitaka in sight as the path became more and more complicated. Turns and twists drew them deeper in, and each time it became harder and harder to catch up to them. And then, as they turned one final corner, the light Fujitaka was carrying went out... and didn't reappear. Fay's heart skipped a beat.

"Syaoran!" he shouted.

_Syaoran... Syaoran..._ the name echoed off the walls of the cave, but there was no reply.

"Syaoran!!" He tried to run ahead, tried to find him, but Kurogane stopped him.

"Stop it!" the ninja said gruffly, holding his arm. "He's gone. We couldn't stop him from vanishing."

"No, no!" Fay tried to pull away, but his strength failed him. He fell limply to the ground. "...no..."

Where there once was four, only two remained. As Kurogane pulled Fay to his feet and guided him back out of the cave, he could almost swear that as they walked, he heard a child's laughter.

Fay spent that night beside Kurogane, as if to reassure himself that the ninja was still there. Mokona, Sakura, Syaoran... the only one left was Kurogane. There was so much he didn't understand. He didn't know why this was happening. Something – or someone – had taken away Sakura, and now Syaoran too. But they could still understand one another. That comforted him a small amount. If he and Kurogane could still understand each other, that meant that Mokona hadn't gone far. And maybe the children were with him....

Kurogane was stirring next to him. Fay looked over as the dark one's blood red eyes opened, staring up at the ceiling of the room through the dark.

"Why did they disappear?" he asked.

Fay silently wished he had the answer to that question. He sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. For the first time since Acid Tokyo, he was terrified. He tried not to show it.

"I heard the voice again last night," he revealed.

"Again? What did it say this time?" Kurogane inquired.

"It... he... is blaming me for something. He says I took something from him." Fay muttered.

"Did you?"

Fay was silent.


	4. Chapter 4

He had fallen asleep... he was dreaming.

_It was cold... so very cold. And he was hungry... so very hungry. The bodies piled around him didn't stink. They were frozen by now. He looked up at the tower._

_"Fay!" he called weakly, "Fay..."_

_"I'm here Yuui," came his brother's voice. He was relieved. Fay was still alive in the tower. _

_"I'm going to reach you, Fay. Just wait. I'll get there... and then we'll get out of here together." Yuui assured him. Fay didn't give a reply._

_Desperately, Yuui began to drag bodies to form a pile. If he could get it high enough, maybe he could reach Fay's window. He dragged as many as he could into a mound against the side of the tower, and began to climb. His fingers scratched against the bricks, scraping and bleeding. He was almost there... and then he fell._

_Up in the tower, Fay was speaking with a man. He was a strange, frightening man with a monocle and a square face. His clothing was stamped with a strange insignia. _

_"Do you want to be saved?" the man asked him. _

_Fay shook his head. "No. Get Yuui out of here."_

_The man nodded and sank into a portal. He then appeared before Yuui on the ground below. The same question was presented._

_"Do you want to be saved?"_

_"Yes."_

The image became fractured, and seemed to be glued together from other pictures.

_"No, that's not right..." _Fay thought to himself, his dreaming mind piecing together an image from the shards. The truth. He knew it was the truth. After Ashura of Celes had died, he saw it.

_"No." he answered, "Get Fay out of here."_

* * *

He sat up slowly as the sun of a new day played over his face. At first, he was unsure why there was a strange void in his stomach, and then he remembered. Sakura... and Mokona... and Syaoran. They were gone. But Kurogane...

He looked beside him, and this time his heart nearly stopped. Kurogane wasn't there. The ninja was nowhere to be found. He scrambled out of the bed, nearly tripping over his own two feet.

"Kurogane-san?" he called, "Kurogane-san!"

The door of the room clicked open, and there he was. The ninja stared at him, confused. Fay tried as hard as he could to keep from pouncing on the tall man in relief. He stared back into those confused red eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kurogane asked him.

"Kurogane-san... you scared me..." Fay admitted, "I thought...that you had vanished as well..."

"Idiot." scolded Kurogane. "I can't vanish. If I disappeared, you'd die."

He was right. Fay smiled thinly. Kurogane couldn't possibly vanish. If it was his brother behind it all, then surely he didn't want him dead. Surely...

He reached out towards Kurogane to place his hand on the ninja's arm, to say 'I know you won't vanish'. His hand went forward, expecting to hit something solid. But it didn't. It was as though he was swiping at an apparition. His hand passed right through Kurogane. Kurogane's eyes went wide. Fay's hand was suddenly through his chest.

"What..." he asked, but he was cut short as his image got fainter.

Fay desperately tried to grab him, but each time all he got was a handful of air. Kurogane watched helplessly as the magician tried to grasp at him, to pull him away from what it was that was making him disappear. The last thing he remembered seeing what Fay falling to his knees, blue eye wide with shock as Kurogane faded into oblivion.

"Kurogane-san... Sakura-chan... Syaoran-kun... and Mokona..." he whispered faintly, his voice as weak and empty as his heart. He folded into himself. Just as Kurogane had, the entire world began fading into a black void around him. There was a sense of cold nothingness, weighing down on him, suffocating him. Like he had been buried alive in the blackness. He felt nothing, he heard nothing, he could see nothing, and he was utterly alone. First there was five. One by one they went away. Mokona... and then Sakura... and then Syaoran... and finally Kurogane. Everything that meant anything to him now had been taken away.

"I don't understand..." he said, his voice lost to the inky prison he was trapped in.

And so the five would become four, the four to three, the three to two, and then there was Fay.

And nothing more.


	5. Chapter 5 FINAL

He was unaware of how long he sat there, curled up around himself, staring into the void before him. There was no noise but his own breathing. And then, there were footsteps. Light footsteps. Slow footsteps. They sounded like they were approaching him. He sat up and looked around, and then he saw it.

Standing before him was a perfect, mirror image of himself, only instead of a full grown adult, he was a child. Naturally tousled blonde hair, clear blue eyes. The coat he wore was white and blue, lined with fur and marked with soft black swirls. The child stared at him as he righted himself, crouching on his knees before the young boy.

"Yuui..." the child said quietly. The voice sent shivers down his spine. It was soft and gentle and sweet, but cold and frightening. Before him stood his brother, untouched by the ravages of time. The twin he had lost. The twin he had watched fall to his death before his very eyes. He couldn't bring himself to speak.

"How do you like it, Yuui? How do you like what I've made for you? You took everything away from me, Yuui," the child, Fay, said to him, "you were selfish and cruel. It's because of you that I died. You chose to save yourself. I thought you loved me."

"No... you don't understand, Fay..." Yuui replied.

"I understand perfectly, Yuui. Your life meant more to you than mine. So now I've taken away everything you have. I've made you just like me." Fay hissed.

"I do love you," he said desperately, "You're my brother. My twin. You meant more to me than anything."

"Then why did you kill me, Yuui? Why did you wish yourself out and not me?" Fay demanded.

"Fay... Fay, that was a lie. I would never do that... I swear, I would never put myself above you." Yuui said quietly, "That man... Fei Wong Reed... he twisted my memory, and yours... I would never do such a thing. You know that, Fay. I'm your twin."

"Prove it, Yuui. Prove that you didn't kill me!" Fay challenged.

With the smallest of spells, Fay presented the truth, unclouded by the malevolent magic of Fei Wong Reed. The true story. The real reason that everything had happened, and why Fay was dead while Yuui lived. Fay stared at his brother, as though his mind had been freed from a spell of it's own. Tears welled up in his childish eyes, and his little hands reached up to wipe them away.

"Yuui..." he whispered, "Yuui."

Yuui smiled and gently stroked the child's hair, "It's okay, Fay. Where are my friends? Can you... can you please give them back to me?

"They're okay. I didn't hurt them." Fay told him.

"I know, Fay. I know. I just want them back. They mean so much to me..." Yuui said gently.

"You can have them back, Yuui. I'm sorry." Fay said, tearful eyes looking at his brother.

Yuui drew the child into his arms and held him tight. Fay shimmered as he fell weakly against his brother's shoulder, small arms encircling his thin torso. Slowly he became a wisp of cloud, blowing away on an invisible, intangible wind, and Yuui was left clutching a feather. One of the princess's feathers. He smiled down at it gently. This was how Fay's soul had gained it's power. The feather...

"It's alright, Fay. You can rest now."

Slowly, the world came into focus around him. The village became nothing more than a clearing, the houses fading with the cloud that was Fay's soul. Kurogane materialized first, looking as confused as he had when he vanished. Fay stood, cradling the feather ever so gently against his breast. The ninja didn't ask any questions as Syaoran and Sakura, then finally Mokona, all materialized as well.

"A feather?" Syaoran asked, blinking, "Where did you find that, Fay-san?"

Fay smiled faintly. It seemed that no one except Kurogane had any idea of what had happened to them, and Kurogane was keeping quiet.

"It doesn't matter." Fay replied, standing and handing the feather to Sakura. "This is yours, my princess. Be gentle with it... it once held something very special."

She took it, looking it over. It looked no different than any of her other feathers, but before she could ask Fay any questions, he walked away through the thick forest. Kurogane followed him.

"How did you get us back?" he asked the magician.

Fay said nothing, his back to the ninja as silent tears slid down his face.

"You can rest now, Fay." he repeated under his breath. And on the salty breeze that blew in from the ocean, there was a voice. Sweet and childish, full of happiness, relief, and apology. Gently, it whispered in his ear.

_"Thank you, Yuui. I'm sorry."_


End file.
